Care workers dodge legal bullet - Winnipeg Free Press

Care workers dodge legal bullet - Winnipeg Free Press

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Outrageous decision, abdication - Winnipeg Free Press

Outrageous decision, abdication - Winnipeg Free Press

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Oh, the irony of an inaccessible Disability Resource Centre | The Uniter: Winnipeg’s Weekly Urban Journal

Oh, the irony of an inaccessible Disability Resource Centre | The Uniter: Winnipeg’s Weekly Urban Journal

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Campaigning for accessibility | The Uniter: Winnipeg’s Weekly Urban Journal

Campaigning for accessibility | The Uniter: Winnipeg’s Weekly Urban Journal

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Answers, please - Letter to the Editor - Winnipeg Free Press - September 12/09

Re: Hear that? Campaign messages are in the air (Sept. 8). As an advocate for the poor and persons with disabilities, I wonder how calling a fall election would benefit us? We have questions for all of the political parties which we would like answered. For several years now, groups representing the poor and persons with disabilities have called for a national strategy to combat poverty. We have also asked the government to make the Disability Tax Credit refundable.

We are still waiting for the government to act on those and other issues. Michael Ignatieff has said that if elected he won't raise taxes to bring down the deficit. He has also said that he won't balance the books on the backs of the provinces. That leaves only one other option: cutting federal spending. My concern is that Canada's most vulnerable citizens are going to have to bear the brunt of those cuts to spending. Ignatieff has some explaining to do. And how would I be any less poor under an NDP government? We hear the politicians. Do they hear us? We want more than slogans and political spin. Many of the individuals which I represent are poor, homeless, hungry and unemployed. Our issues matter and we would like some answers.

HARRY WOLBERT

Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities

We let them down - Letter to the Editor - Winnipeg Free Press - Wed. July 8, 2009

The article Police probe death in Wolseley (July 8) wake-up call for government to provide the necessary supports and services that persons with disabilities need so that in the future incidents like this are less likely to occur. Where was the staff? This is, after all, a halfway house for persons with disabilities. Over the years I have come to know several individuals who reside at the Madison. The vast majority of the tenants are good people. Many have mental health issues and would, i my opinion, greatly benefit from some one on one support. I find this type of support lacking in the mental health field. Medication alone isn't enough. We need to provide better supports to help ensure that people don't fall through the cracks.

In many ways persons with disabilities are no different than the rest of us. They want to live in an environment where they feel safe and secure. And that's something we all want.

HARRY WOLBERT

Winnipeg

Great day for disabled - Letter to the Editor Winnipeg Free Press - Friday June 12, 2009

Your article Barrier busting wins praise struck a chord with me. It isn't often that I find myself congratulating the government for anything. But June 4 was a great day for persons with disabilities living in Manitoba. I was one of those present for the unveiling of the government's strategy called "Opening Doors." It will go a long way towards breaking down some of the barriers which persons with disabilities face on a daily basis.

Family Services and Housing Minister Gord Mackintosh was right when he said that "everyone has abilities" and that "this is about barrier busting." The announcement was a really good start.

The government's heart is definitely in the right place. But at the end of the day the disability community needs to continue holding the government's feet to the fire. Good intentions alone won't

bring down barriers. Neither will saying all the right things.

HARRY WOLBERT

Winnipeg

Making Poverty for Persons with Disabilities History

Outcome: The full inclusion of persons with disabilities in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres of society.

Actions:

• Public education campaign to combat the myths surrounding disability.
• Community living for persons with disabilities, rather than institutionalization.
• Consumer control of disability supports, including self management of services.
• A seamless lifelong continuum of support services for persons with disabilities.
• Comprehensive program for the purchase, maintenance, and upgrade of assistive devices.
• Stable equitable funding for disability supportsthroughout the province.
• Well trained service providers that have a good understanding of disability issues.
• Persons caing for persons with disbilities are provided respite.
• Improved home care services including staff continuity, technical support taining, and 24 hour emergency service.
• Supporting persons with disabilities, and their families, transitioning into adult life, including life skills training.
• Supporting persons with disabilities i gaining the education and training of their choice, including post secondary education.

Inclusive Rights, Values and Ethics . . .and Persons with Disabilities

Values and ethics inform and shape the social construction of our societies and the general socio-economic realities of all people. The basic values of societies around the world contribute to "exclusion and marginalization" of people with intellectual and other disabilities. This is evident in:

• The increasing use of genetic technologies to identify disability;
• The growing gap between mortality rates for children with disabilities and the general population;
• The disproportionate vulnerability of persons with disabilities to violence and abuse;
• The active discrimination in many immigration systems around the world that serve to deny immigration to a person with a disability based on outdated stereotypes and assumptions that persons with disabilities impose an excessive burden.

These trends result from exclusionary values and ethics and institutionalized discussions that are, for the most part, unregulated. Many countries lack the legal/political infrastructure to . . .respond to new and emerging threats to the value and dignity of persons with disabilities. - CACL Brochure

Speaking truth to power

Winnipeg Free Press

Letter to the Editor

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Your Jan. 21 article Deported paraplegic claims discrimination is a wake-up call for Canada to take action and amend its immigration laws. NDP critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis spoke truth to power when she said that Canadians don't support the approach taken by our government. She's right; it is "intolerable." Chris Mason's deportation was wrong. I hope that Mason can find it within himself to forgive our government an reapply so he can come back to Canada.

HARRY WOLBERT

Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities

Disabled Workforce Increased: Statistics Canada

Ottawa - The number of people with disabilities who are joining the workforce has increased over the past seven years, according to a recent report by Statistics Canada. Between 2001 and 2006, the employment rate for Canadians with disabilities grew from 49.3 per cent to 53.5 per cent, compared to an employment rate of 75 per cent for Canadians without disabilities.

Statistics Canada reports that Canadian workplaces have been finding more ways to accommodate workers with severe disabilities, as the employment rate for this group saw the most significant increase - from 31.8 per cent to 38.3 per cent. The survey also found that many workers with disabilities required a modified work schedule that cut down the amount of hours or days they work in a week. According to the report, 11 per cent of respondents with severe disabilities perceived they had suffered at least some discrimination at work due to their condition.

Winnipeg Free Press

LETTER OF THE DAY

Sending wrong message

Re: Told he's not fit enough to stay, Jan. 13/09

I am disgusted to hear that a man with a disability, Chris Mason, is going to be deported simply because he is no longer able to work. What message does this send to Canadians about the value of persons with disabilities? If Mason were a violent criminal, then the government might have some justification in deporting him. But he's done nothing wrong.

I think that this individual should be allowed to remain in Canada. We have a provincial and federal government that say they support the inclusion of persons with disabilities. This sort of behavior says the opposite. It's the message of exclusion, not inclusion. I hope that the federal government will rethink its policy and show some compassion to Mason. My Canada includes persons with disabilities.

HARRY WOLBERT

Co-Chairperson

Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities

"See what we can do, not what we can't"

We've come a long way since the days of the snake pits and forced sterilization. However we still have quite a ways to go before the inclusion and full-citizenship of persons with disabilities has become a reality. There are still far too many persons with disabilities who are unemployeded, without safe, adequate housing and who continue to live in poverty. Some positive change has taken place over the last forty years but not enough to lay claim to a victory in the war on poverty or social exclusion. Recently the Government of Manitoba announced that it was launching a "public awarenes campaign" to promote the skills and potential of hard-working Manitobans with disabilities. The message to employers was clear: 'See what I can do, not what I can't'. The initiative was hailed as positive and a good first step. We can only hope that the government's latest public awareness campaign will have the desired results. After all: Hiring someone with disability really is good for business. And that is the bottom line!